What was wrong with him?

Neji buried his hands deep into his pockets. When he'd looked down from the window of Tenten's hospital room, he had seen Lee heading to the building. He wasn't sure if his encounter with Lee wouldn't be awkward in front of Tenten, so he had decided to leave and give the room to the two best friends. He knew Tenten wouldn't like it if she knew there had been a tension between him and Lee.

Although she would find out sooner or later, for sure. Neji could only hope she could resolve the problem between the two most important men in her life. If anything, Tenten had always been his and Lee's "older sister", ready to scold the two whenever they got into an unnecessary fight.

At least he hadn't lied to her when he'd said he had a few things to do at home. He needed to take a quick shower and clean his room. He also had to make sure he showed up in the compound this morning just so his family wouldn't be suspicious or something.

With that thought, Neji quickened his pace.

"Lee?"

Lee lifted one hand to greet her. "Welcome back. Tenten."

Tenten was never one to cry a lot, but after seeing Neji again last night she felt that she was being emotional right now. She let out a joyful laugh despite her tears. "Lee! Come here."

In the blink of an eye, Lee was suddenly in front of her, pulling her into a tight hug. "Tenten, I-I'm," he stammered, "I'm glad you're back."

Smiling widely, Tenten pushed her friend gently and placed both hands on his shoulders. "Lee. How are you?"

The shiny haired man looked at her with tearful eyes. "I'm fine."

Ruffling his hair affectionately—Lee had always been her younger brother in their years together—Tenten laughed and mocked him. "Don't look like that, silly. I'm real. I'm not a ghost."

Lee shook his head and wiped away his tears with his sleeve. "Tenten. I'm sorry."

Knowing what he meant, Tenten sighed and motioned for him to sit beside her. "I did what I needed to do. I just wanted to protect you. Don't be sorry."

"But because of me, you had to… you had to—"

"No." Tenten smiled at him confidently. "That was not your fault. Don't worry."

"But what happened to you?"

I can't tell you. "I wasn't dead," she said. "I was kidnapped, that's all."

"Kidnapped? But—"

"They wanted something from Konoha." Tenten saw Lee's thick eyebrows draw together. For a brief moment she felt bad and she wanted to tell him everything; she hated lying. Except this wasn't actually lying, she convinced herself the very next second. "I'm sorry, Lee, but Tsunade-sama told me that was village's matter. I returned safely, that's all."

Lee's expression told her that he still wanted to ask more, but she punched his shoulder playfully. "Honestly, Lee, what happened to your springtime of youth while I was gone? Come on, cheer up!"

He smiled even if only slightly. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Tenten waved her hand dismissively, not wanting him to ask for details about how she had been able to come back. "Where's Gai-sensei? I cannot wait to see him."

Hearing their teacher's name did light up Lee. One thing she had learnt after their years together; talk about Gai-sensei if you wanted Lee to switch topics. "Gai-sensei is still reporting his mission at Hokage office. Because the mission was a secret I was told to go visit you first and that he would be here in a minute. He said he couldn't wait to see you, Tenten! He cried when I told him you were back."

Tenten cringed, imagining them giving each other a youthful hug while bawling in happiness right at the Konoha gate, watched by the disturbed Kotetsu and Izumo. "I hope everything was fine while I was gone. I don't know if Neji could handle you two without me."

She chuckled at herself, picturing Neji's priceless expression everytime the two Green Beasts forced him to do something ridiculous. He had once said that the only reason he had never Jyuuken-ed them after all this time was because she loved them. She wondered how could the two were still alive now even after her "death" for four months long.

Lee didn't answer.

"Lee?"

The round eyed man looked up and smiled. "Do you need something right now, Tenten? I'll get it for you."

Tenten frowned and eyed him for a while. Other than the fact that Lee hadn't mentioned anything related to youth since he'd appeared at the door, he looked slightly troubled with something. "Are you alright, Lee?"

"Yes. By the way," Lee glanced at the chair Neji had been sitting in before. "Where's Neji?"

"He went home to take care of a few things." Tenten could hear the disappointment in her own tone, so she continued with a more cheerful voice. "He'll be back in any minute though, so let's just wait until he and Gai-sensei come, okay? Oh, and I cannot wait until I'm released from this boring place. We'll finally get assigned to missions together again! By the way, I haven't visited that new dango shop near academy building. You promised to take me there before we went to our last mission, remember?"

She felt relieved when she saw Lee grin before he responded enthusiastically, making exciting plans for Team Gai to do together.

Neji opened the door for her.

Tenten stepped inside, brown eyes wide as they observed the room. "Nothing changed. And it's clean."

He followed her after closing the door. "I've cleaned this place everytime I came here."

This time, her gaze shifted to him. "Neji… you've been coming here while I was gone?"

Yes, because I always thought you were still here. I've must lost my sanity. "Yes."

Tenten smiled and hugged him briefly. "Thank you."

He turned her around and led her to the living room with both hands on her shoulders. "Sit down while I make us tea."

The Hyuuga could see her about to protest when he pushed her onto the couch none too gently, but he quickly shut her up with a kiss. He pulled away after a brief moment, but Tenten held his face and kissed him back, pouring herself into the kiss in a familiar way he had so missed.

Neji almost sighed. They hadn't kissed like this since the past four months. The kisses they had shared in the hospital had only been filled with gentleness, relief and happiness; not to mention they had been interrupted once by a laughing Kiba, a very red Hinata, a squealing Ino and an uninterested Shikamaru.

Tenten stopped him when he moved to capture her lips again, then giggled when he grunted in disappointment. "Where's my tea?"

"I hate you," he said in a mocking tone, earning a sweet laugh from her as he got up and went to the kitchen.

But Neji's smirk disappeared the moment he stood in the kitchen alone.

He leaned back to the wall and closed his eyes.

He was grateful to have her back. He thanked the heavens that she wasn't dead, that he could hold her in his arms again. But something still troubled him.

About Lee, he guessed he didn't have to be worried anymore. He had never thought Lee was a capable actor until yesterday, when they'd finally met in Tenten's hospital room. Neji had given up, he couldn't avoid Lee forever. The taijutsu master had acted natural as if nothing had happened between them. They'd even talked to each other, and as usual Lee had been the one to start the conversation. As for Gai-sensei who had known everything, he too had said nothing. It relieved him because it seemed that Tenten had no suspicion about anything.

Although Neji wasn't too sure whether their previous tension still bothered Lee or not, he was content with the thought that Team Gai had been complete again. Tenten had also seemed more than happy to be back with them and her bright expression had been enough for him to enjoy the team's reunion yesterday.

Even so, Neji knew something wasn't right from the time he'd asked her at the hospital. It was clear that Tenten was hiding something. He knew her well enough to tell that something was bothering her and the fact that she was hiding it from him only made it worse.

Neji ran a palm over his face before finally finishing preparing the tea, making a mental note to ask her about that soon.

Tenten sat straight and smiled at him as he handed her favorite mug, shifting to provide more space for him to sit. "If I haven't said this before, let me tell you that you make the best tea in the world."

The Hyuuga sat down before sipping his own tea. "If I haven't said this before, let me tell you that tea reminds me of you."

"Me?" Tenten grinned. "Why?"

Neji stared into the mug in his hand. "I don't know."

The brunette kunoichi snuggled closer to him and leaned her head to his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I have given you such a hard time. I didn't mean to."

Father had also never meant to do that, Neji thought. "I know."

Tenten sighed and murmured again. "You know I can't hide anything from you, don't you?"

Neji blinked. He hadn't expected her to talk about that without him having to ask. "Yes."

Tenten set her mug on the coffee table next to the couch. She took a deep breath and Neji began preparing himself to hear anything—judging from the way she clutched the fabric of her pants, he wasn't going to like it.

What was it?

"Do you know what they've always wanted?"

Neji's frown deepened. "Taking you back from Konoha?"

"Not just that." Tenten looked down. "Since I inherited the clan's weapon and sealing abilities, they…" he could see her hands shaking, "t-they wanted me to marry my distant cousin to produce children for them."

His body felt cold. So cold.

"I didn't have any choice and I let… him." She struggled to speak. "I'm sorry. I told Tsunade-sama not to tell you."

Neji did not look at her, for his heart aching at the thought that for the past four months, someone had been touching her, had been using her. Had been with her as if she was a machine to produce the next generation of their clan. "Why?" he asked, voice hoarse. "Why didn't you fight them?"

"I couldn't refuse, Neji…"

"You are not the Weapon Mistress of Konoha for nothing, Tenten."

"I couldn't!" Tenten said, louder this time. "I couldn't fight them!"

"But you gave up." His voice lowered. "You gave yourself to him. What were you thinking?"

"Do you really think I wanted to?" He heard her taking a deep breath. "They got nothing from me after all, Neji. I've never been pregnant with his child."

His chest felt heavy that he found it hard to speak. The image of Tenten forced to marry a man, her cousin to make it worse; the image of them spending the nights together even if she didn't want to… No. This was not what he had ever imagined. What had always been his images were Tenten and him, married in a small wedding attended only by a few people, Tenten and him, waking up together and smiling at each other every morning in a small but comfortable room. Tenten and him.

He felt the strong urge to slaughter all of her kidnappers.

"Neji, please." she pleaded. "Please forget about that. I want to move on with you and leave the past behind. Please think of that… as a kunoichi mission, okay? It's over and—"

"Kunoichi mission." He let out a bitter laugh and stood up, fingers tightening around his mug. "Kunoichi mission, huh? May I remind you that you have never been to any kunoichi mission before and I have made Tsunade-sama agree that you would never have to take it?"

"You don't understand!" She stood up as well. "I didn't have any choice."

"You should have done something."

She sobbed aloud, and he felt more than saw her tears rolling down her cheeks. "I couldn't! I know I'm weak, I'm sorry!"

That was not what he meant. Neji had never wanted to call her weak, on the contrary he knew how capable she was, but at that time he didn't feel the need to explain. He closed his eyes, struggling to regain his breath. "You should've—"

"They threatened me, Neji! If I refused to marry him, they were going to tell some lies about Hyuuga clan and provoke some people in Kumogakure, even the Raikage, to try to steal the secret of Byakugan again by kidnapping Hinata or her sister and they also threatened that they would hurt you and I couldn't, Neji, I couldn't let them do that!"

Neji's eyes widened in shock as he finally looked at her.

"All they had to do was mention your name, Neji," she said and gazed up at him through tears, "and I would give up anything to protect you."

His instinct told him to pull her into his arms and kiss her for her devotion to him but he did nothing, too shocked at the fact that she had done such a sacrifice for him.

And he, for as long as he knew, had never done anything as big as that for her. "You didn't need to…"

"To what?" she sighed tiredly. "There are times when I have to protect you. It's not always about you protecting me—"

"That's not what I meant!" Neji said loudly, in frustration throwing his mug plus its content to the floor a few steps away from him, not missing how she flinched in shock at the shattering sound. "That's—"

He paused only because he spotted the fear in her brown eyes.

"I understand you, Neji," she said hoarsely after a few seconds of silence. "I know you have never liked to share. I know you find it painful to imagine me ever married to someone else, have been touched by another man. But…" she closed her dark eyes and it only made him feel worse at how hurt she looked. "Please understand that it is over, that I want to forget everything and continue living with you. We can get over it together."

"Give me time."

Her eyes shot open in shock.

Neji let out a shaky breath. "I need some time alone."

He saw her swallowing hard and wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand. Without another word, she turned around and headed to her room.

Neji slumped into the couch after she disappeared, groaning to himself in frustration.

He had probably exaggerated the entire problem, but. Did Tenten have to make him like this? Feeling hatred towards her clan and angry but hopeless because there was nothing left to do—he could not revenge because Tsunade had said it was village matter. Feeling afraid and scared that someone was going to take her away from him and hurt her once again. Feeling weak because she had protected him while he had done nothing for her.

He was familiar with these feelings. His father.

Tenten rolled over in her bed, burying her face deep into the pillow to avoid the light coming from the window.

All she inhaled was Neji's scent and she smiled sadly.

He hadn't lied when he'd said he'd been visiting and taking care of her apartment since her "death". It had made her heart swell at first even if she could imagine how depressed Neji had been after she'd gone. She knew Neji, he actually was easy to be unhappy.

After he went on an extreme mission that required him to kill people, he would come home and wordlessly ask her to embrace him, to let him rest his head on her shoulder and they both would stay like that for minutes without talking. On his father's birthday, he would ask her to cook Hizashi's favorite food and they would visit the memorial stone and just stand there together for a long time.

She knew who he really was.

Tenten closed her eyes. She meant every word she had said to him last night. She just wanted to forget about her forced marriage in Kumogakure, about the nights she had spent with the man she had never known or loved, about everything. They didn't have big arguments very often so it scared her, but perhaps Neji had been too shocked last night. She was sure he just needed a little time to accept the reality. He would soon find his composure and everything would be normal again.

Reluctantly Tenten got off the bed. She ran a hand through her messy dark tresses and walked to the kitchen to get some breakfast. Neji must've had left after their fight. She hadn't noticed, been too tired last night that she'd fallen asleep with eyes red from crying as soon as she'd thrown herself into the bed.

Her steps halted when she spotted Neji sitting in her kitchen, facing a mug of tea on the dining table. He didn't glance at her and greet her as usual even if he knew she was standing in the doorway.

"Good morning." She said hesitantly, hoping that he was feeling better now.

"Good morning." There was nothing wrong with the way he answered, but Tenten still felt uneasy.

She started to hate the silence. "Wouldn't your family be looking for you?"

"No." He said shortly. "There's… something I want to tell you."

"Oh." Tenten tried her best to sound calm. "What is that?"

He looked at her for a few moments before those pale eyes of his closed. "Give me some time."

She bit her chapped lower lip. "You mean last night wasn't enough to calm yourself?"

Neji shook his head once. "Listen to me." His eyes opened and she was suddenly afraid, as if something bad was going to happen. "I hurt you last night. You didn't deserve any of my words. I should've listened and comforted you. I'm sorry."

She looked at her toes. "Don't worry about that."

"I don't want to hurt you again."

She lifted her head up as her eyes widened in disbelief. "What are you afraid of, Neji? You—you would never hurt me."

"Give me time."

Tenten knew by time, he meant more than just one night. "To what?"

"To learn," he said and her heart lurched when she looked into his eyes—his eyes were empty and his expression was unreadable and it broke her heart because he felt different. "I want to be stronger and braver for you. I have to learn to deal with emotions so things like last night will not happen again." A pause. "We are shinobi, Tenten."

She knew by we are shinobi, he meant we shouldn't cling to emotions like this.

"I understand," she managed to say it even if she felt like dreaming. "We need some time alone." A bitter chuckle. "I probably need to get stronger too. We are shinobi."

Tenten knew that shinobi didn't love, shinobi fought.

The room was quiet for a minute. Finally, he stood up and walked to where she was standing. She wanted to stop him and change his mind, she wanted to give him thousands of reason to stay, but she knew the best thing was give him some time to distance himself from her, to cool his head and rethink about everything.

She just stepped aside to allow him the access to walk out. She knew who Neji was. He would come back when he was tired of shinobi life. When he was tired of killing people, tired of arguing with the heads of his clan.

When he realized that he, Hyuuga Neji, was not just a strong shinobi; he was a human and he needed someone to be with him.

Still, she felt the need to ask. "Will you come back?"

"When I get braver," he paused when he walked past her. "I'll come to you. I won't be with somebody else."

Hot tears escaped from her eyes. "Take your time."

After hearing the sound of the front door closed, Tenten wiped her eyes and walked to the table to grab his favorite mug. She sipped the lukewarm tea slowly.

It tasted bitter.

(A/N): I was dead for weeks. Seriously. No time, no motivation and no idea to continue. Please tell me if something is wrong with this chapter.